Oh Boy, Lost
It's over. This makes Dan sad.
Heavy Spoilers under the cut.
Well, Lost is over, and with a, well, not so much twist as explanation, that I imagine has got a lot of people super pissed off.
The final season has had this "flash-sideways" universe which, presumably, we are meant to believe was created by the nuke set off at the end of season five. We learned tonight that in fact, this universe is no universe at all - or rather, it's not a universe so much as an afterlife. No, the island was not purgatory, but this portion of season six was. As Tim put it, this is the ultimate flash forward, where even Hurley and Ben, who we can justly theorize were around as long as Jacob and Richard after the events of the series, are now hanging out, being all afterlifey.
This part of the story is one I'm hugely undecided on. Essentially, it comes down to this: If I were writing it, I wouldn't have spent so much time or even had this afterlife thing in the show. Yes, everyone gets together after they die, which is nice and it's great to have the afterlife definitively exist in your show (which is certainly something I hope for in the real world, but I'm in no hurry to find out,) but it felt a little like a bait and switch. If they were always going to find each other after they die, then why bother showing it? The only thing it really accomplishes is soften the blow for all the characters you saw die - which is probably not the right choice dramatically.
So the way I think about it, I think that if you didn't like the afterlife business (whatever your personal beliefs may be) you are free to mentally amputate them, as they don't really have any effect on the main island business (in fact, that's really the main problem with them.)
What we did get to see tonight, however, was that Jack, with the help of Desmond, was able to disengage the Island's magic long enough to render Smokey Locke mortal, kill him, and get back in time to put the plug back in before wandering into the bamboo patch to die from his wounds while Sawyer, Miles, RIchard, Kate, and Frank Fucking Lapidus (not dead!) fly off on the not-so-destroyed Ajira plane.
We didn't really get answers, per se, about the island stuff, and really I didn't expect to get much more. As someone who was always more into the genre stuff and thought that the personal, character stuff was a mixed bag (sometimes great, sometimes melodramatic) I would have preferred a more mythology-based ending.
I imagine that in the next few days, there's going to be a similar reaction here to the end of Battlestar Galactica, a series I sort of consider Lost's shorter-lived sister show. I think people will be very pissed off to have an explanation like "It was the afterlife!" just as people were pissed off that SPOILER FOR BSG!! it was all God leading them the whole time.
But as the reactions to the ending cool down, I think we'll always be able to look back at this show as one of the great television shows. Even if you thought the ending was utter shit (which I think is taking it too far, even if I had my problems with it) Lost is still a great show. And really, what Epic Science Fiction/Fantasy stories have had totally satisfying endings? Think of the X-Files, or The Dark Tower, the Matrix, or what George Lucas did to Star Wars with the prequels.
The biggest problem I have with Lost ending is that now I've got to find a show that can fill its place. I don't think we'll see any as ambitious or mystifying for a long time. If I can ever get my writing career going, I'll give it my best shot.
-Dan
Heavy Spoilers under the cut.
Well, Lost is over, and with a, well, not so much twist as explanation, that I imagine has got a lot of people super pissed off.
The final season has had this "flash-sideways" universe which, presumably, we are meant to believe was created by the nuke set off at the end of season five. We learned tonight that in fact, this universe is no universe at all - or rather, it's not a universe so much as an afterlife. No, the island was not purgatory, but this portion of season six was. As Tim put it, this is the ultimate flash forward, where even Hurley and Ben, who we can justly theorize were around as long as Jacob and Richard after the events of the series, are now hanging out, being all afterlifey.
This part of the story is one I'm hugely undecided on. Essentially, it comes down to this: If I were writing it, I wouldn't have spent so much time or even had this afterlife thing in the show. Yes, everyone gets together after they die, which is nice and it's great to have the afterlife definitively exist in your show (which is certainly something I hope for in the real world, but I'm in no hurry to find out,) but it felt a little like a bait and switch. If they were always going to find each other after they die, then why bother showing it? The only thing it really accomplishes is soften the blow for all the characters you saw die - which is probably not the right choice dramatically.
So the way I think about it, I think that if you didn't like the afterlife business (whatever your personal beliefs may be) you are free to mentally amputate them, as they don't really have any effect on the main island business (in fact, that's really the main problem with them.)
What we did get to see tonight, however, was that Jack, with the help of Desmond, was able to disengage the Island's magic long enough to render Smokey Locke mortal, kill him, and get back in time to put the plug back in before wandering into the bamboo patch to die from his wounds while Sawyer, Miles, RIchard, Kate, and Frank Fucking Lapidus (not dead!) fly off on the not-so-destroyed Ajira plane.
We didn't really get answers, per se, about the island stuff, and really I didn't expect to get much more. As someone who was always more into the genre stuff and thought that the personal, character stuff was a mixed bag (sometimes great, sometimes melodramatic) I would have preferred a more mythology-based ending.
I imagine that in the next few days, there's going to be a similar reaction here to the end of Battlestar Galactica, a series I sort of consider Lost's shorter-lived sister show. I think people will be very pissed off to have an explanation like "It was the afterlife!" just as people were pissed off that SPOILER FOR BSG!! it was all God leading them the whole time.
But as the reactions to the ending cool down, I think we'll always be able to look back at this show as one of the great television shows. Even if you thought the ending was utter shit (which I think is taking it too far, even if I had my problems with it) Lost is still a great show. And really, what Epic Science Fiction/Fantasy stories have had totally satisfying endings? Think of the X-Files, or The Dark Tower, the Matrix, or what George Lucas did to Star Wars with the prequels.
The biggest problem I have with Lost ending is that now I've got to find a show that can fill its place. I don't think we'll see any as ambitious or mystifying for a long time. If I can ever get my writing career going, I'll give it my best shot.
-Dan